SPOKANE, Wash. – Today is officially the first day of fall which means there is work to do in the garden to get it ready for the cold fall and winter months.
WSU Master Gardeners (WSUMG) has a lot of advice for what you should be doing to support your garden.
One of them is watching the forecast. Before freezing temperatures hit, WSUMG says you will want to cover any summer plants with a pillowcase or a cloth to protect them and keep them warm and producing as long as possible. Make sure to give your plant space and to cover them without touching them if possible.
WSUMG also says now is a great time for planting anything that has a hearty bulb. Garlic is a good example. You put those bulbs in the ground and they are surrounded by soil that protects them from the cold. They can get a head start on spring and be ready to finish growing when the weather allows.
WSUMG also says now is a good time to get in your last fertilizer of the season, ideally before you blow out your sprinklers, so you can water your fertilized yard once or twice before the end of the season.
Then you might want to get those appointments scheduled if you are having a professional blow out your sprinklers because they fill up quickly and there is a limited time window to do so before your hoses freeze overnight.
Lastly, if the leaves are starting to fall, you can collect them into a large compost pile to make your own fertilizer come spring.
“Add some water to it so it’s about as wet as a rung-out sponge,” said Tim Kohlhauff with the WSU Master Gardeners. “That’s going to start decomposing and create a really rich compost that you can spread on your garden in spring. So, fall is a great time to build a compost pile.”
WSUMG also gave some advice on how to start your own compost pile effectively.
They say you do not necessarily have to build a bin to hold your pile, but it could help organize things.
WSUMG recommends using scrap wood or old shipping pallets to build your setup. You do not have to build a 3-bin setup, but WSUMG recommends doing so if you have the space for it.
They use one to store the raw materials, another to actively compost, and the third to flip the materials that are actively composting when it’s time to stir them up.
WSUMG says the ideal size of your pile should be anywhere from 3′-3′-3′ to 5′-5′-5′ but no bigger and no smaller, and you have to be careful what you put in it.
WSUMG says about 2/3 should be brown compost (provides carbon). That’s dead leaves, branches, and plants that died a while ago and have lost their color.
You should also have 1/3 be green compost like lawn clippings, vegetable scraps or fruit peels because they are all nitrogen sources that serve as the engergy that transforms the compost.
Add some water to the mixture, just make sure you don’t put too much.
“You wanna make sure the pile is fairly damp,” said Kohlhauff. “[But] if you pick it up and water is running down your arm, that’s a little too wet, so add some more of the browns to soak up that water…”
WSUMG says you should stir the pile about once every few weeks if you want the fertilizer early in the year. You’lll know it’s done when you don’t recognize what you put in it and it’s cold inside and out.
